Hi Nate,
As far as I can see the quote can be found in the Dreyfus/Rabinow Reader. I do only have acces to the German translation at the moment, so I cannot look up the precise formulation. Maybe you have the possibility do do it yourself? It should be on page 187:
But Foucault—as he himself says—is less interested in knowing what and why something is done but in the question of what one’s own ‘doing does’ (Dreyfus, H. L. & P. Rabinow: Michel Foucault. Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp. 187)
The other famous quote is that of Marx when he tells us (in the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte):
“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like an Alp on the brains of the living...."
or when Marx talks about the Fetishism of commodities (Capital Volume One):
“whenever, by an exchange, we equate as values our different products, by that very act, we also equate, as human labour, the different kinds of labour expended upon them. We are not aware of this, nevertheless we do it.“
kind regards,
Henning
Am 22.08.2008 um 22:33 schrieb Nathaniel Roberts:
As far as I can see the quote can be found in the Dreyfus/Rabinow Reader. I do only have acces to the German translation at the moment, so I cannot look up the precise formulation. Maybe you have the possibility do do it yourself? It should be on page 187:
But Foucault—as he himself says—is less interested in knowing what and why something is done but in the question of what one’s own ‘doing does’ (Dreyfus, H. L. & P. Rabinow: Michel Foucault. Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 1982, pp. 187)
The other famous quote is that of Marx when he tells us (in the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte):
“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like an Alp on the brains of the living...."
or when Marx talks about the Fetishism of commodities (Capital Volume One):
“whenever, by an exchange, we equate as values our different products, by that very act, we also equate, as human labour, the different kinds of labour expended upon them. We are not aware of this, nevertheless we do it.“
kind regards,
Henning
Am 22.08.2008 um 22:33 schrieb Nathaniel Roberts:
I seem to remember Foucault writing something along the following lines:
"Men generally know what they are doing, and frequently know why they are
doing it. But what they do not so often know is what what they are doing
does."
This is my wording, not Foucault's, but I hope I have correctly recalled the
essence of what he said. Or am I confusing him with some other source?
Does anyone recall reading something like this by Foucault (or some other
writer)?
Thanks in advance,
Nate
--
Nathaniel Roberts
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
Columbia University
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